Knowledge Skill Question

[Grand Unified Theory]

Considering the topic of anatomy, would it fall under the umbrella skill of Knowledge: Nature?

Also, can one use skills and knowledge of relevant topics together in a skill roll?

Like, for example, let's say that Hogrin the Half-Orc wants to jump from one side of a small chasm to another. Hogrin is an exceptional kind of Half-Orc; he's got a 16 intelligence score and paid attention to his trigonometry classes when he was in elementary school.

Could Hogrin combine a 'Jump' roll + a Knowledge: Nature (Mathematics) roll? Or would a high relevant knowledge skill lower the DC for his jump roll?

You could argue that by remembering the pythagorean theorem, you could deduce how high of an angle you would need to cross the jump using arithmetic.

[wangxiuming]

I think this is something where it would be situational to the event and up to the DM to decide. Knowing how to do something doesn't necessarily make it easier to actually perform.

For example, knowing the angle of your trajectory for a jump doesn't mean it would make the jump easier; I would think that would depend solely on your physical capabilities (and skill in jumping, I suppose).

[Doubtful]

In PnP there is quite a bit of skill crossover - There's a handy table.

http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Tab...kill_Synergies

Functional anatomy would most likely fall between Nature and the Healing skill, it also highlights the difference between knowing a subject and having the relevant practical skills:

IE someone who's spent a long out in the field treating the wounded might have a very good idea about how to heal up wounds and injuries, as a result they may also know that the wobbly green thing shouldn't be near the puce pulsing thing, but they couldn't tell their ilium from their medial epicondyle on an anatomical chart.

Likewise having the dry anatomical skills and ability to name all the various wobbly and stiff bits may not be huge amounts of use when presented with someone who's accidently put some of the better-off-inside bits all over someone elses sword and the playing fields.

Sadly we don't really have skill synergy here in NWN2 land, I'd imagine coding it would be the kind of thing that makes people shudder and wake up in cold sweats.

In an event you might be able to persude a DM to give a little bit of a bonus for relevent knowledge skills, it'd be judged on a case by case basis really.

After all, having the knowledge to work out the correct jumping trajectory to make the other side is pretty useless if you've all the jumping capabilities of a three legged sofa, or haven't spotted that the other side of the jump will land you on unstable scree.

[Farmboy2003]

but it would make fun Rp if your character proposed to jump a chasm using math for an hour before attempting it.

[Grand Unified Theory]

but it would make fun Rp if your character proposed to jump a chasm using math for an hour before attempting it.

For an hour?! It would take like.. 5-10 mins, tops. Watch the nearest cat jumping up onto a table for reference.

[Orlitoq]

Just spit-balling here...

It might be simpler to mentally add a modifier to a skill roll based on the level of training in the related skill; maybe 1 point per every 5 skill points?

Example:
If my Knowledge Nature is 13, and my Heal Skill is 17, I could make a Heal check as normal (Heal Skill: 17 + Roll: 5 = Check: 22). Then, if the DM is willing, add 2 (13/5 = 2 with a negligible remainder) for the Knowledge Nature training to get a total of 24.

This would preclude the need for extra coding, and would allow either other players present, or a DM, to judge if the secondary skill is an appropriate accent to the initial roll.

[GodBeastX]

It's heal skill. Heal skill has been used for anatomy, telling how someone died, how long they've been dead, all sorts of factors with the body.

[Laurk]

I must concur with Godbeast. Im not sure what "knowledge: nature" has to do with anatomy. The only time I would factor in knoweldge nature is if RPing having to fabricate curatives in the wilds. Looking for medicinal herbs, knowing what kind of mud is safe to pack a wound with, understanding maggots clean wounds, etc. that sort of thing. Basically when you have to subliment your healing kit by scavenging from the wilds.

One other use: Animal anatomy. Those who hunt for a living for example are probably going to have a better understanding of typical animal anatomy. Though really "survival" is probably much better for this. A healer, unless their score is ridiculously high is mostly going to be trained in common humanoids, whereas a hunter or forester is going to know what's what in an animal a bit better in most cases id think. They'd still need the healing skill to fix anything, but thats really when id really consider a synergy bonus between the two skills most applicable in terms of anatomy.

I always RP a low/medium heal score as being either book smart about healing, or good at practicle first aid from practicing in the field. Never both. I consider a high healing score to be both well trained and experianced.

You can only get so much from training, but then.. you can only get so much from experiance too, true mastery of any skill requires both.

[Farmboy2003]

Id also reconsider using knowledge engineering and architecture for math based horror instead of knowledge nature. I have plenty of characters with ranks in the latter who can go days without a number.

[Kitsunestume]

Most knowledge skills will say if they are of any use against a creature, from an intellectual standpoint.

Arcana (constucts,*dragons,*magical beasts)
Dungeoneering (aberrations,*oozes)
Local (humanoids)
Nature (animals,*fey,*giants,*monstrous humanoids,*plants,*vermin
Religion (*undead)
The planes (*outsiders,*elementals)

That being said, knowing how the components of a Mac works and that it is conceptually like my PC really doesn't help too much in terms of getting one to actually play games.

[GodBeastX]

That is for identification, not necessarily for anatomy but it may. For example, Healing doesn't tell you how golems are built or how oozes are built.